How to defuse the bonus bomb in one move

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The riskier a bank’s business, the less it should be allowed to pay staff. That’s fair to shareholders, taxpayers and savers

Misdirected anger and political opportunism have corrupted the debate about
Stephen Hester’s bonus. That’s a shame, because this gets in the way of
addressing one of the root causes of the credit crunch: the connection
between exorbitant bank bonuses and excessive risk.

Of course, many people think that all large salaries are immoral. They may or
may not have a point, but baying for the bonus of one man does nothing to
stop a repeat of the banking crisis.

The sums paid to a handful of bank directors may sound (infuriatingly)
enormous but in the scheme of things they are